Roll Call

Hi ThreeNThree,The children we want to adopt are from Pasco-Pinellas County, I am not familiar with your county (probably since I am about 3 1/2 hrs away) but I would like to learn more about adoption/fostering in your area, any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

HI! Im in WPB and I bet you were looking at Orion and Malaki??? I can tell you that we have seen so many wonderful kiddos on the Pasco Heart Gallery.There are so many different options for searching for kids, it takes a few hours to check all the heart galleries. Not that I would EVER complain!! We received our approved home study in August 2012 and We have submitted on dozens of kids. Heard back on several- We have even gone as far as a "full disclosure" meeting and received complete history on a few others. I thinnk its hard to decide when you have bio kids in your home. Now waiting to meet 5 y/o twins in Miami. It so heart breaking to see so many sweeties and to think why they are there...Good luck!

Hi threeplusone!Yes, I am constantly on all those website searches. I am actually looking at a different sibling set from that county :-) I just have one question, what is WPB? Also, you said you inquired on a lot of kids and went as far as "full disclosure" what happened with those? I am so excited for you! I hope you get those twins! Keep me updated!

Hi, I wish I had info to give you. We barely started looking in to fostering in Pasco county so I'm just a newbie. Our initial paperwork was turned in last week and we haven't heard anything from the lead agency (Eckerd) since. I think patience is something I'm going to have to learn to embrace. Waiting to find out when our MAPP class will be is making me crazy and I'm afraid it's probably only the tip of the waiting iceberg. Good luck with the littles you have your eyes on! Monica

Hi Monica, No worries. I didn't read your post thoroughly until after I replied. I totally understand, we currently have 2 MAPP classes left and I am getting really anxious, okay more like impatient because I thought they would have called to schedule a homestudy appointment already. I heard of people having their homestudies approved by the time their MAPP classes ended. So that's where I'm at right now :-) I wish you only the best on your journey too! Melissa

I am here too. I am scheduled to start my MAPP class in April. I am very excited to get the ball rolling, but nervous about getting the homestudy finished. The agency I spoke with told me they only have 2 people in the entire county that can do homestudies and that there is a waiting list to have them completed. They wont even put you on the waiting list until you complete the MAPP class. So how long is this wait? Then of course there is the wait to be matched...

That is so surprising to hear-you said you're in Pasco or Pinellas? I'm in Pinellas, but Eckerd is the lead agency for both. Are you going through Eckerd or another licensing agency? I know Eckerd has more than two people doing homestudies. I finished MAPP in April 2012 and had my first placement on May 8th (I think it was about 2 weeks in between).

I am in Martin County and this is what I was told over the phone by one of the adoption specialists. I will be working with Children's Home Society in Port St. Lucie... or so I've been told. I start MAPP on April 6... hopefully I will learn more about the wait list for homestudy's then. I am REALLY hoping the person I spoke with is wrong. Wow... two weeks for placement! That is quick! I have heard it is much slower for adoption placements. Any hints as to how to get the ball moving? I really feel like this is the right direction and want to move forward.

Hi MommyinFL, I am from St. Lucie County and it is true, they are way behind in home studies. I know when we began fostering last year, it took 6 months from the time that we finished MAPP classes until the time that our home study was completed. We did have the visit immediately after the completion of class, however the finished paperwork and approval was 6 months later. Right now we are going through the adoption process and it has not been as bad, however I know that the adoption case worker did say that they were short on people and that it is taking a while for everything to get completed. I wish that I had better news for you, however I will say that for us it was so worth the effort and the wait. We have a wonderful little one that we are about to adopt and we could not be happier. They will not put you on the list until you complete the MAPP classes due to so many people not making it through the classes. Right now they haven many families that have completed the classes waiting to be approved, families that did make it through the classes. I know that it is frustrating, and yes they need more workers, but for now, this is what we have. The agency is a good one to work through as long as you just have patience. The good news is that when you have to be re licensed the process is much quicker. Best of luck on your journey! If you have any questions, feel free to contact me....

Thanks for the information. It is good to know a more accurate timeline going into this. I am glad to know there are so many other families in the county wanting to be help out and be part of this program, even if that means a longer wait for us.

Hi Flmomtoo, Quick question... do you think their is a big need for fostering and/or adoption in Martin County? I am just wondering if part of the reason for the waiting list for people who have completed MAPP and are waiting for homestudies is due to a lack of need in this area???

There is a huge need! In our area, when you are licensed you are for the four counties, Martin, St. Lucie, Okeechobee, and Indian River. We are only licensed for 1 child however I always have two. I was told right now that there are over 13 children under the age of 7 in the shelter for lack of homes. I was also told that there are only 4 or 5 homes in all four counties that can take a newborn baby straight from the hospital. I forget the numbers but the number of homes in our area is very low for the amount of kids, I think we figured our every foster home would need to take 4 kids for all kids to have a place to stay, and of course this is not possible. In my experience, I do not know of any homes that are not always full, and the moment a child does leave they are immediately calling for you to take another one. They are also always inquiring to see if you can up your capacity. If you are interesting in fostering or adopt, I would encourage you to be patient, there is a huge need. I do think that I read that you are interested in adoption, we went into the whole process as just adoption however when we heard the fostering need we decided to foster. We are in the process of adopting our foster child who we were given as a baby. In the process we have helped over 5 other babies who are now in a better situation than when we received them. We do plan to continue to foster and you never know maybe we will adopt another little one who needs a permanent home. I do know right now, I SEE the immediate changes for these children that occur because we do foster and there is no way that I could walk away from doing this. I would encourage you to just be patient, it is so worth it for both you and the children!

:fish: Wow! 13 kids under age7 in a shelter!?!? So heartbreaking! It is so sad that they have all these families willing/wanting to take in children that have finished their training and that they don't have enough people to process them through. Thank you for your advice! I have been weighing the idea of fostering vs adoption and am trying find out what is best for our family. My inclination is to foster knowing how great a need there is for it, however, I worry about making that work with my boys being so young still. I will for sure keep moving forward and see how things fall in line.

Hi, anyone out there? My husband and I are about to start MAPP clases and I am just wondering if any of the people that posted on this thread before could give some updates regarding timelines and final placements. Thank you! any comment or advice definitly helps to someone that is about to start the journey having biokids (6 and 4).

MAPP expires in 5 years. Once we got an approved home study it went fast. Once we got approved we were matched right away and 90 days later we adopted him. It's been 4 years.